


Anthropological Discoveries of the Sea

by ghostpun



Category: BIRDMEN - 田辺イエロウ | Tanabe Yellow
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Boats and Ships, Gen, M/M, Mermaids, Mild Language, Slow Burn, alternate universe- mermaids and pirates, btw theyre all 2 years older in this, ive been working on this fic for weeks and this WILL be more than one chapter, takayama (and others) are mermaids, you thought i WOULDNT include kamorei??? youre WRONG
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-11-14 11:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18052055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostpun/pseuds/ghostpun
Summary: An AU where Karasuma is rescued by a merman after going overboard, and the aftermath that follows.





	1. Overboard

The wind whips Karasuma’s hair around as he stares off into the ocean waves. He adjusts his hat, the rain making it hard to see, and is about to back off to go continue his work when he notices movement below. A red tail splashes into view, but is gone just as quickly. It was a lot bigger than a normal fish’s size, and the curious part of Karasuma springs to life, wondering what the creature could be. A mutant koi fish, perhaps? But still, it was far too big to be something so simple. He squints at the water, hoping to catch another glimpse. Scanning, scanning, _ah!_ A vague shadow about the same size darts past the ship once more. Karasuma, pushing his luck, leans forward for a better view. The creature looks ready to surface again, the tiny hints of black starting to form-

The boat rocks forward, and Karasuma scrambles to secure his hands on the side to avoid falling overboard. He breathes in, ragged breaths of adrenaline as his wet bangs stick to his skin, and is disappointed that any hint of the curious species is gone from the choppy waters.

“Eishiiii!” Kamoda yells over the wind, “Get back over here and help carry supplies!”

Karasuma sighs, the moment passing, and he stumbles back from the railing to go aid his longtime friend. He grabs the end of a crate, hoisting it up with effort.

“We’ve been on this ship since we were 15,” Kamoda laughs openly, holding his own crate with ease,”and yet you still haven’t gained any muscle from this job!”

“Not everyone can be such a muscular freak like you,” Karasuma mutters, scuffling forward as he follows the other across the deck. The bandanna covering Kamoda’s head whips ferociously in the wind, hitting him in the face and blocking his grin as they work their way through the rocking ship.

“Man, this storm is gonna be a rough one, huh?”

“Mhm.”

They step down the stairs, place their cargo next to the rest of the storage. Thunder rumbles nearby, and the rain pounds heavier from above.

“We better hurry up.” Karasuma calls, dodging other crew members and heading back out.

The rain drenches his clothes even more, and he works his way to a crate by the side of the ship. He bends down, determined to lift it the first try. He lifts with his back, and is surprised when the crate is heavier than he thought, causing him to stumble backwards. His back hits the side hard, the rocking ship suddenly careening to the side, causing the already off-balance sailor to fall back into the treacherous waves. He vaguely hears crew members shout out, and he spots a few of their faces before they’re blurred by the sudden water obstructing his view.

The ships crates empty out onto his face, and Karasuma instinctively lets go of the cargo in order to bring his head back above the water. Gasping, he squints through the pellets of water on his eyes to try and locate the empty crate, his best chance of a buoyant craft to hold onto, while he waits for help. He spots it several feet off, and he starts to kick his way over. A wave starts to form, carrying the crate way above his head.

“ _Shit!_ ” Karasuma yells, as the wave engulfs him, sending him further underwater. The force of it knocks him down, and he waits for the chance to resurface again.

He gasps, now starting to shiver, the roaring wind blocking his ears. The crate is nowhere to be seen, carried off somewhere, and the ship is getting too far away. He can make out the shape of his best friend, frantically looking all over for the bobbing head of the other.

Karasuma starts to yell out, maybe to yell over the wind and water to show Kamoda where he is, but another wave crashes down upon him, causing him to fall even farther than before. Karasuma screams out in surprise, regretting it as sudden water attempts to rush into his lungs, stings his eyes. He barely makes it back up, blubbering as he looks around for anything to swim to.

There’s nothing. Just the open, open sea. The ship is nothing but a faint figure, and the rain rings endlessly on his head. Thunder cackles menacingly, and the dark grey clouds serve no sign of hope.

 _I’m done for._ Karasuma thinks, shuddering as he looks around for a sense of direction. Another wave comes forward, and he holds his breath and lets it pull him. He resurfaces again, tries to think of where they were from the map in his head.

 _East_ . His head pleads. _Head East._

The ship, now merely a dot, was set for there. They were supposed to go to the harbor.

He starts to paddle. Who knows how long it would take, but it was a better shot than drowning in the middle of this ocean.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spots that red tail again. It’s caudal flips water in the air, then disappears. Karasuma decides to ignore it, keeps on doing butterfly strokes forward, freezing in the cold.

The creature surfaces again, the dorsal fin gleaming from the water. It’s closer this time.

_I probably look like fish food._

He kicks a bit faster, his muscles starting to burn despite the temperature.

The form swims right beneath him, starting to get closer.

Karasuma squeezes his eyes, not wanting to helplessly watch whatever was to come next. There’s the sound of water being disturbed, but no sense of being eaten. Something’s breathing. A voice rings out from next to him, rough and heavily accented, as if its vocal chords were never used. “Lost?” It asks.

Karasuma’s opens one of his eyes to peak at the source. A human face stares back. Karasuma splashes away from the sight, shocked.

Well, it was almost human. Despite both looking 17, the mysterious stranger was definitely inhumane. Its ears more fins, scales pepper its face like freckles, and the pupils almost take up the entirely of the eye.

Karasuma feels himself be lifted slightly because of a wave, he grapples for words. “...What-“

“You..are lost?” It repeats, cocking its head to the side.

Karasuma’s head spins in confusion. He shakes it in an attempt to clear his head, almost expecting to open his eyes and be alone again.

The creature is still there, and it swims even closer, a little bit too close for comfort, in fact. Despite the rain, the creature’s hair sticks up at random. Neither say anything, and Karasuma remembers he still hasn’t answered.

“Stranded,” he rushes to say, “More...stranded.”

It nods. “Land-folk shouldn’t be here without their barrier.”

“...Right...”

They sway back and forth, the storm passing to farther west. The creature lifts a webbed and black and red hand from the water, holding it between them.

“Do you want to live?”

Karasuma blinks at the offer. The other smiles, and he notes that its teeth are razor sharp.

_This is a bad idea._

“Like hell I’d die here.” His pride replies back, like he’s 15 again. He quietly grabs a hold of the other, shivers from the slickness of it.

“Where to?”

“Land. Um, east of here, a port of sorts-with wooden docks.”

“Okay.” It says, and moves Karasuma’s hand over its own shoulder. “Hold on.”

“Uh, Okay- _woah_!” Karasuma yipes, as they both suddenly move forward, the pace easily many more miles per hour than Karasuma’s paddling. Karasuma focuses on keeping his head above water. He can’t speak, unless he wanted more water in his lungs, so he focused on looking around and observing the waters. He had always loved swimming, but he had never been this far out. It filled him almost with a sense of freedom, despite almost meeting his end. He shivers, both from the thought and the cold waves.

They keep continuing forward, and Karasuma can see on the horizon the harbor. He had never, in his many years aboard a ship, been so happy to see the dingy old docks and people fishing. They keep moving forward, and it’s now not that far out.

“Hey!” Karasuma says, voice rising to be above the wind, “You can’t just swim me right into the harbor.”

The creature peers to the side, slowing down a bit until they both come to a stop.

“Is that not where you want to go?”

“Well-Yes, but-it would scare the locals for me to wash shore with ah, well, _you_.”

“Oh.”

“It’s just, I don’t want you to get into trouble because of helping me, yeah?”

It nods. “I...I see. I’ll drop you off a bit away, then.”

Karasuma feels the corners of mouth twitch up in a smile. “Thank you.”

They start to move again, except aiming away from the docks, and more to a small island a good bit away from the shore, and even farther from the docks.

Upon reaching, Karasuma basically scampers up the island to lay on the sand. “Oh, god. I thought I was going to die back there.” He breathes, staring up at the setting sky. He peers at the other, whose floating lazily in the shallow shore, staring at him. Now that they weren’t in the middle of a storm, the creature’s black and red scales were vibrant and stunning.

“What’s your name, anyways?” Karasuma asks, sitting up and leaning towards his rescuer. The creatures nose twitches a bit, face blank. “Uhm, my name’s Karasuma, just so you know. Karasuma Eishi.”

“...Takayama Sou.” A genuine smile parts on Takayama’s lips, and Karasuma feels himself warm up despite his clothes being absolutely drenched.

Karasuma glances to the side to the harbor, and notices that his captain’s ship is docked.

“I should get back.” Karasuma says, looking back at the other.

Takayama’s tail splashes in the water before going under again. He starts to drift back until his chest is submerged.

Karasuma almost wants to ask him to stay, but that would be ridiculous. Instead, he waves his hand in goodbye, and Takayama slinks fully under, disappearing. The other sits for another minute, before standing up and starting to shakily walk towards the harbor. _Did that really just happen?_

After 15 minutes of walking, he finally gets there. He walks into the dock area, spotting his crew mates and their shocked faces, before he’s suddenly being lifted in the air and crushed in a hug.

“Gah!” He yells, kicking his legs in futile.

“I thought you were a goner!” Kamoda blubbers, resting his head on top of his friends and sniffling.

“I’m fine, idiot-put me down!! You’re crushing my lungs!”

“You’re not a ghost, right? I’m not just imagining this? You’re actually here?!”

“You can’t hug a ghost, Mikisada.” Karasuma is placed back on the ground, and playfully scowls up at the other.

“How’d you get back? Did you really swim the whole way?”

Karasuma flushes. “I had help.”

“Oh?”

“It’s nothing.” _You wouldn’t believe me anyways_.

Kamoda peers down at his friend, tilting it as he gets a good view. “You didn’t meet a mermaid, huh?”

Karasuma sputters, “W-What?”

“Mermaids! Jeez, don’t you pay attention to local myths?”

“I don’t really care about stuff like that,” Karasuma looks back across the sea, “but...I think I might need to.”

Kamoda slaps a hand on his friend’s back. “I have no clue what you’re talking about, but I’ll talk about it with you at dinner, yeah? Let’s go tell the Captain you’re not actually dead.”

Karasuma grimaces, walking forward as he thinks about confronting their boss. “Great…”

He steps foot onto the ship, hurried along when he hears his name being shouted in annoyance, causing him to wince.

One earful from his cranky boss later, Karasuma slumps against the table of the local tavern, grumbling into his drink. Kamoda, sitting next to him, flips a few pages into a book he picked up from the tavern shelf.

“Aha!” He shouts, scaring the cat sitting on his lap, “Got it!” Karasuma peers over, looking at what his friend discovered. The word “Merfolk” is sprawled in the left corner page in swirling letters, below rests a sketchy rendition of the title. A skinny, bony lady with the lower half of a fish, big sharp teeth, holding onto a human skeleton.

Karasuma takes a sip of his drink. “Takayama looked better than that…” He mumbles into his cup.

“Who?”

Gagging, Karasuma slams the drink back down, wiping his face from what he almost spit out. Kamoda leans his face in close.

“You _met_ one?!” His eyes practically shine at the idea, he was always a fan of the mythical.

“M-Maybe!” Karasuma snatches the book from Kamoda’s hands. “None of your business!”

He ignores the protests and continues to read on the information page. It’s dreadfully bare, only stating a legend of mysterious half-fish, half-human women luring sailors to their deaths.

“That’s it?” Karasuma asks, pointing to the last line of the book.

“There’s not much information about them, Eishi. No one’s been believed to have spotted one.” Karasuma huffs, closing the book and pushing it further down the table.

“How long are we in port, again?”

Kamoda taps his chin in thought, before lifting it as an idea forms. “For the rest of the week, I suppose! And then we set sail for Port Heron.”

Karasuma leans back, considers this.

He pushes his way out of the chair, grabs a few coins and places them next to his drink. “I think I’m going to turn in early.”

“Awww, really?” Kamoda pouts. “You promised we’d go cat hunting here, Tenkuudai port is full of them!”

“We’ll spend tomorrow looking.” He promises, before backing his way out the entrance. He walks outside the tavern, looks up the night sky. The crescent moon hangs in the air, and the stars blink. Despite the chaos of the day, the night was cool and sincere.

Karasuma walks aimlessly along the cobble street, watches people mill about near the stands. He keeps walking, before backtracking a few steps to a nearby stand. A middle-aged man perks up at the potential customer. Karasuma cautiously picks up one of the blank leather notebooks for sale, turns it over to look at the gold band with the word “Tatsume ” engraved in the back.

“Ah, are you a writer?” The man, Tatsume presumably, excitedly asks. Karasuma has to stop himself from grimacing at the other man’s enthusiasm.

“I guess so.”

The man grins. “I am as well! I write a lot about animals, and the myths surrounding ones not known.”

“I saw your book at the tavern. ‘ _The Curious Curiosities of Diverging Species_?’” Karasuma reaches into his pocket to pull out some money. Damn, he’s spending a lot tonight.

“Ah, yes. I’m quite fond of that one! If land animals can have brothers that swim in the sea, who's to say we as humans don’t have one as well?” He places the coins in his pouch, scribbles a few tallies in his notebook. “You look like a boy who's just as interested in an animal's evolving forms. I run this shop by myself, but feel free to talk to me at the school up the road if you want to look at my more academic research.” He waves his hand in the general direction of a building on the hill close by.

“I’ll consider it.” Karasuma admits, before backing away with his new book and pen, continuing on his way. He opens it up, stares at the brown color of the first page, before etching in his own name and a title: a stylized working stating “Anthropological Discoveries of the Sea,” bold font and capital letters.

Karasuma walks more, onto the ship that’s been his home for many years, and descends to the sleeping barracks. He places the book inside his pillowcase, before crashing his head on the pillow and promptly falling asleep.


	2. Resurface

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you Tiara (@hummingbird-pink on tumblr) for beta-reading!!!

The next day, Karasuma dawdles along the beach with his friend. The sun beats down on both of them despite it being well into the afternoon, their only saving grace the occasional gust of ocean wind. He sits on a rock, watching the passing ships and fishing boats go by, while Kamoda squats on the sand and coos at a black cat laying on its side. 

“Eishi, Eishi, come look! This cat has white paws.” Kamoda reaches forward to scratch the cat’s stomach, giggling when the cat grabs his hand and nibbles playfully. “I’m totally naming you Mittens.”

“Don’t tell me you plan on sneaking another cat on board.” The other groans, fiddling with the notebook on hand. “You know they don’t like water.”

Kamoda ignores this, instead picking up the cat by the armpits, dangling it as he hobbles over to where his friend sits. He shoves the cat in his friend’s face. 

“Cat.”

Karasuma pushes the cat lightly away. “I’m good, thanks.”

He looks back out to the ocean, watching the waves move and the light reflecting off of them. There is no sign of movement, and Karasuma runs a hand through his already-windswept hair.

“You’re staring off a lot more today. Looking for something?” 

Tapping absentmindedly on his empty notebook page, Karasuma takes a second to reply. “It’s nothing. Was that the only cat you found today?”

“Ah! No, there’s this really fluffy Turkish Angora a little bit up the beach. He was really friendly and needy.”

Karasuma stands, brushes some stray sand off of his pants. “I’m guessing you named him too?”

“Of course! I need a name to call out while I sneak them some food…”

They walk along the sand, with Karasuma glancing out toward the horizon every couple of minutes.

Far off, a small spray of water erupts from the surface, alongside a brief glimpse of red. Karasuma stops, ignoring Kamoda’s question as he focuses. A few seconds pass, and a red fin emerges for an instant before disappearing behind the curve of the island. Karasuma grips his notebook.

“Eishi?”

“I’ve got to go.” He says, turning around and stepping backwards. “I, uh- just realized I forgot to do something back on the ship.”

“Oh, really? Did you want me to come with-“

“No! Um, no, no it’s good! Thanks, though.” He waves his hands in front frantically, squirming a bit under Kamoda’s questioning gaze. “See you at dinner?” 

The taller one shrugs, the animal in his arms bouncing up and down with the movement. “Yeah, okay! Tell me what you’re up to later, then.”

Karasuma does a slight wave in goodbye, before beginning to briskly walk down the beach. He gets a bit farther away, glances behind him to check that his best friend wasn’t watching, before picking up the pace and practically booking it down the beach. He sprints, watching the water for any more signs of movement, before he eventually arrives at where he last saw the tail. It's a small area, the sand strip ending and morphing into a forest. Trees diverge to allow in deep water, which rushes into a nearby cave.

Karasuma looks around, checking for anyone watching, before he ducks into the opening. The path is muddy, a river leading its way with rocks and small sprouts of foliage, and he slowly edges forward before the entrance. The river water flows into the basin of the cave, a deep pool of sorts. Daylight shines in, almost making the water seem to glow despite the surrounding black walls . A small strip of rock leads to a large, flat boulder protruding on the side. 

“Hello?” His voice echoes around as he steps inside and onto the small trimming.

Bubbles spring from deep inside the pool, and Karasuma slowly continues moving along the side until he lands on the flat rock. Hesitant, and a little embarrassed for not getting a response, he sits down. He leans forward, hands on the edge, and only a few inches away from where the lazy waters churn. He squints, almost certain he sees  _ something _ through the opaque water.

“Takayama?-“ He starts to say, before the water directly below him shifts, and tufts of hair begin to rise. Karasuma slowly leans back, watching as the other emerges from his hiding spot. The merman stares at him with his black eyes, surprised. Their noses are close enough to almost touch.

“Oh.” Takayama says, water droplets falling from his hair and onto the water below. “I didn’t think anyone knew of this spot.”

Karasuma feels his cheeks burn. “I saw you come in here.”

The other nods, lazily, before sinking back down into the water, the lower half of his face covered. He doesn’t turn his eyes away, and Karasuma doesn’t either. He only blindly searches with one hand for his notebook, holding it tight when his fingers brush the weathered leather.

“Can I ask you a few questions?”

The other blinks slow, glides slightly off to the side of the rock, before emerging and resting with crossed arms next to the other.

“Are you a scientist?” He calmly asks, leaning forward, causing the other to lean back.  _ He really doesn’t have a sense of personal space… _

“Oh, no. I’m….I’m just a simple sailor.” Karasuma puffs out.

Takayama tilts his head toward the book in a simple motion. “Then why the notebook?” 

“I, well, uh...I guess...I’d be more of a researcher, of sorts. I’ve never met anyone like you, and...I’m curious?”

He hums at the answer, thinks a bit, tail splashing in the space of silence. “...Okay.”

Delighted, Karasuma grabs the pencil tucked behind his ear and opens to a blank page. He scribbles the date and Takayama’s name while the other watches. 

“Is it okay to draw you, first?”

Moving down the page, Karasuma starts to lightly etch in a circle. He makes some arcing motions, roughly sketches in the wild hair, the curve of the fins for ears. He moves a further down the page, blocking out the basic shapes of a chest and a long tail.

“You’re good at this.” Takayama remarks, leaning over to watch as Karasuma starts to roughly put in the scales. The boy flushes at the compliment. 

“I just liked studying things as a kid...kinda got good at sketching them out. Human features aren’t really my strong point…” He starts shading in the blotchy pattern of Takayama’s scales. “My friend is probably better at this. Could you lift your hand up?”

Takayama does, spreading his fingers open.

“So they’re webbed...” Karasuma begins another drawing, a close-up of Takayama’s outstretched hand. He taps the pencil on his cheek in thought. Leaning in a bit closer, he tilts his head to the side. “They seem pretty opaque, too.” He glances up to look at the merman’s face, takes note of the slight difference between them. Takayama’s nostrils are more sharp than circular, with a slit on the outer sides. Not to mention the slight smoothness of his overall nose, pressing slightly more inward than an average human’s. Karasuma writes the word “water resistance” and draws an arrow to the nose he scribbled out. He makes a quick note of the shape of Takayama’s eyes, observes when he flicks his eyes to side, showing a bit of white in the corner.  _ Good to know it’s not completely black… _

“Is it hard for you to see? I’m sure they’ve been adapted for darker light, so, do you have a sensitivity or anything?”

“Not that I’ve noticed.”

“And what about colors?”

Takayama tilts his head to the side. “Huh?”

“I mean, um,” Karasuma holds up his brown journal. “Could you describe this? Like the shade?”

“Gray.”

Karasuma blinks, looks down at the book before opening it back up and jotting down the word “colorblind.” “Your eyes must have taken more to adjusting to light than to color…”

Takayama doesn’t show much reaction to this, the only sign being the splash of his tail in the water. The motion reminds Karasuma he hasn’t finished his drawing.

“Would you mind sitting on the rock? I want to see how your tail looks.”

He obliges, heaving himself up fully, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with the other. The tail is pretty long, only slightly bigger than where the legs should be. The scales reflect light around the pool, ranging from white, to red, to black. Blotchy patterns making way in a spiral motion upwards. 

_ Pretty _ ...Karasuma thinks, before shaking his head and opting to start to shade in the tail. He makes a few notes as to the apparent texture, finishes up a few more strokes, before placing his pencil down, satisfied. 

“What’s it like?” Karasuma asks, leaning to place an elbow on his book, “To be a merman? Is it freeing?”

Takayama smiles at the thought. “Yeah, it is.”

“I guess that means you don’t have as many responsibilities?” He fiddles with the tool in his hand, scratches in the world ‘Family’?

“Well, we have a responsibility to participate in our clan, yes.” The sound of scribbling continues, “...but we’re supposed to spend this decade or so exploring the world. We can’t stray too far, though, we still need to be able to communicate.”

“Oh? How does that work underwater, anyways? You don’t sound like you use human language a lot.”

Takayama thinks for a moment. “It’s a lot similar to what dolphins do. I think that would be the best comparison.”

A match lights in Karasuma’s head. “Echolocation?” He starts doodling the head of a dolphin, drawing out rings of sound. “So how do you know Japanese, then, since you have your own language?”

Takayama shrugs, briefly lifting his shoulders up and down. “We pick it up.”

“I see…”  _ There’s a lot of mimicry in this… _ ”Do you watch humans a lot?”

“Usually, we don’t. My friends and I just like to.”

“Friends?” Karasuma says, while shifting his legs to be more comfortable.

“Mhm.” A couple of plinks sound as Karasuma keeps writing, jotting down notes and underlining, circling things for organization for later.

“Would you mind telling me about some of them?”

“Well, I don’t really hang out with many people…”

“That’s fine, neither do I.” Karasuma says, not looking up. Takayama smiles a bit from his response. 

“Well, one of my friends is pretty adventurous. Another one is too, but she is more about exploring the sea, rather than talking to humans.”

“Does she have a name?”

Takayama pauses for a moment. Then suddenly makes a few clicking and chirping noises, like a cross between a bat and a hawk. Karasuma stares. “Was that supposed to be her name?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Um, lovely name.”

“It is.” Takayama says, amused look on his face. “I’m joking, by the way. That was just how we call her underwater. Her name’s Irene.” 

Karasuma feels his face grow hot and he playfully shoves Takayama’s shoulder while the other keeps grinning. “Asshole!” 

He fiddles with the pages for a minute before he huffs, closes the book and sets it beside him.

“You’re...out of questions?”

“Yeah…Still kinda reeling that mermaids exist.” Karasuma chuckles nervously. He glances outside the cave to see the sun starting to set.  _ I should probably get back. _ “Hey, is it okay if I come back tomorrow?”

“You want to talk to me again?”

Karasuma turns his head to look at the merman. “I want to learn more about you. Is that okay?”

Takayama slips back into the water with ease, circling around the basin a bit. “That’s fine, I’ll be here tomorrow as well. Not until evening, though.”

“Really? I guess I could work around that…” He stands, collects his book and pencil. “It...it was nice meeting you again, Takayama.”

“It was nice seeing you too, Karasuma.”

The boy raises his hand in goodbye, and Takayama returns the gesture, watching as he scoots along the cave’s side trimming and through the opening. 

Karasuma walks back out to the small passageway, looks around, and heads to town to go find Kamoda. He registers from the side of his eye Takayama slipping back into the ocean from the river, gone without a trace. Karasuma bites back a smile, walks along the cooling beach and up onto the paved road, looking through the mingling crowd. He spots Kamoda a bit ways off, sneaking bits of fish to the white cat he must have been talking about earlier.

“Hey.” Karasuma says, walking up to him.

“Eishi!” Kamoda grins, “Welcome back! How was your adventure?”

“It was fine. Hey, you hungry?”

_ “Starving.” _

Karasuma allows himself to laugh, freely and open. “C’mon, you big nerd. Let’s go see if the chef got any food we can steal.” 

They make their way down to old docks, down the row to the large ship that they call home, crossing onto the main deck. A few of the other crew members, ranging in age from teen to young adult, wave at them as they pass through.

Down at the kitchen, Kamoda talks excitedly with the chef about a new recipe he was thinking of.

“There’s these spices that would work really well on fish-“ He quips, stalling while Karasuma hides two oranges behind his back with quick fingers, looking at his journal to pass it off. The cook eventually shoos them out so he can work, and they slip out quietly giggling, Karasuma handing one of the goods off. He turns his head forward again only to run straight into someone’s chest.

“Oof. Sorry-“ Karasuma looks up to see who he ran into, forcing himself to crane his neck even more as he looked at the disapproving look of a man with a scar between his eyes.

“Oh.” Karasuma squeaks. “Hey, Adler.”

Adler glances down to the stolen food in both their hands, and Kamoda immediately hides his behind his back.

“Please don’t tell the captain.” Kamoda begs, taking a half-step behind his best friend.

Adler sighs, covering the scar on his face. “Seriously you two, stop with all these shenanigans. Barbara’s already mad that one of you fell overboard yesterday.”

“That was hardly my fault!” Karasuma whines. He’s dismissed by the wave of Adler’s hand, a roll of his eyes. And maybe the hint of a smile as well.

The duo take a side-step away from the 20 year-old, and hurriedly make their way up to the main deck and off the ship, and don’t stop until they’re a bit away from everything and back to the beach area they were in.

“Say,” Kamoda says, after they catch their breath, “Where did you go, anyways? When we were here, earlier?”

“Uhh.” He hesitates, before lowering his voice to a whisper. “Remember that merman that rescued me?”

Kamoda’s eyes light up as he takes a pops an orange slice in his mouth. He nods.

“Well, I saw him again. And I talked to him! We’re meeting again tomorrow.” Karasuma feels the excitement bubble in his chest as he speaks. “Isn’t that great?”

“That’s amazing!” Kamoda whisper-yells back. “Is that why you bought that book?” He points to the journal Karasuma’s been holding. Karasuma opens it up and points to the picture he sketched earlier.

“Woahh” Kamoda says, “He looks so cool! Like a koi fish.” 

“Mhm, I just can’t think of questions…”

“Oh! Can I help?” Kamoda says, pulling the book closer to him to see. “I want to know if he’s a lot like the fishes we studied as kids.”

“I didn’t think of that!” Karasuma says, pulling the pencil behind his ear. He sits down on the sand, and together they start scribbling up lines of questions on the next page.

After a lot of brainstorming, they both lay on the sand.

“Aah, I’m out of ideas.” Kamoda says, staring up at the stars.

“Me too.” Karasuma says. “But they’re a lot more than I initially had, so...thanks.”

Kamoda turns his head to look at Karasuma and grins, giving a thumbs up. Karasuma returns it, and glances out to the ocean to the right of them.

_ Tomorrow night _ . He thinks, feeling himself smile.  _ But what to do until then? _ He grabs the book, flips it over to see Tatsume’s name engraved on the back again. 

“Hey, Mikisada.” Karasuma says out loud, still looking at the book. “Do you want to go on an adventure tomorrow?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> suprise this is a fic for me to nerd out about biology 
> 
> (also, a question for you all, how would you prefer for updates to go? Would you rather me have a set day to upload, or should I just upload them as I complete them? Thanks!)


	3. Unearth

“This wasn’t what I had in mind when you said ‘adventure.’” Kamoda whines from behind Karasuma, as they trod up a small hill in the afternoon heat. “I was thinking things like cave exploring or bug hunting,” he kicks a stray pebble on the side of the road, “not going to some old guy’s place to look at books!”

“Quit whining, I told you you could stay behind if you wanted to!”

Kamoda strolls forward, easily overtaking and leading ahead of his friend. “Why would I do that?”

They make their way into the main town area, weave their way through the people milling about. A few kids run past them, shrieking and laughing as they head off to go play. Women and men stand around, talking with neighbors and sitting in the shade. At the end of the row of townhouses rests a building different from the rest, enough to notice it from the distance. Slightly larger than the houses, one story high, making a slight “L” shape.

Arriving at the steps to what they assume to be the front, they pause when a man steps out from somewhere inside the home at the same time. He jumps at the sight of the two teens, adjusts the papers in his hand.

“Uh,” Tatsume remarks, looking up at Kamoda and squinting in confusion as he takes in the foreign garments, “Hello?”

“Hi,” Karasuma greets, bringing the older man’s attention back down. “We met briefly some nights ago, and I bought a book from you.” He opens up his satchel and lifts up his journal, tapping the book he’d carried all the way up for proof. Tatsume’s eyes shine in recognition.

“Oh! Yes, I remember now. Have you decided to take me up on my offer?” His asks with excited vigor, leaning a bit forward.

“...Yes, if that would be okay?”

“Splendid, splendid!” The man beams with energy, fiddling and readjusting his papers multiple times. “Here, you can follow me. I was just about to head home, and most of my books are there anyways, so would that be alright? I’ll make us tea as well.”

Karasuma looks at Kamoda, who only shrugs back. “Alright.” The shorter one agrees, following Tatsume down the steps and back into town.

“Oh, I am so excited. Usually my students don’t quite care for the wildlife! Much more interested in other things.” Tatsume remarks with a wave of his hand, suddenly stopping in front of a home and ushering the two inside.

After removing their shoes, Tatsume shows them to a room, hurridly places a few books on the table before he leaves briefly to make tea.

“This is nice.” Karasuma remarks, looking around and taking in the home.

“He seems pretty weird.” Kamoda returns, fiddling and shifting his feet around.

Karasuma merely shrugs, places the journal on the table and flips through the few pages. “It’s the best shot right now.” He grabs one of the books placed, flips it open and observes the detailed anatomical drawings of the local fish. He flips the page a few more times, until he’s greeted by the sight of a koi fish. Takayama’s tail already resembled the pattern of a koi, so it would be logical to assume other parts would be similar as well.

Lines on the page point to multiple assets, names of the different fins and jumbled loops of lines to indicate shapes. He loosely transfers over the official names onto his drawing of Takayama. He notes that the barbels, instead of being connected to Takayama’s face like whiskers, instead made an appearance as an extension of the bottom of the fins that acted as ears. He thinks back to yesterday, remembering Takayama’s face, the ear fins twitching before he shook his head, water flying everywhere.

Tatsume walks through the door with a tea set in hand, and the sound of it thunking on the table draws Karasuma out of his memories.

“Here.” Tatsume offers, before Karasuma takes the cup with a soft _Thank you_ , watches as the tea is poured and he takes a sip.

“I’m surprised you actually showed up,” He speaks as he pours a cup for Kamoda, “Usually I don’t have people interested in my findings.” He glances over to the side of the table, where the fish anatomy book is spread wide open, along with the journal, flipped to the page with Takayama in plain sight. Karasuma nervously shuts the book with a swift of his hand. “Why is it... that you’ve decided to visit?” Tatsume finishes.

“I’ve always liked aquatic life.” Karasuma says, hiding the slight nervous tilt in his voice. “I always take the chance to read up more about them.”

“And I take you have an interest in mermaids?” The man adds, eyes twinkling in excitement.

“I-”

“You mentioned it, the day we met,” The middle-aged man leans back, stands and hurries over to a shelf of books. “That you had read one of my theories.”

Karasuma nods, eye twitching with nerve, the tea feels hot in his clammy hands.

“That was only one of my books, you see.” Tatsume says, turning back with three books in hand, all with worn, cracked spines. “I think you’d like these much more.”

He places them on the table, Kamoda, next to Karasuma, lifts one up and flips to a page.

Karasuma clears his throat. “You-”

“Eishi.” Kamoda interrupts, elbowing him in the side. He shoves the book to the side so they both see it. On the page are scribbles of a mermaid milling about, all from a far off angle. Despite the page being in black and white, Karasuma could practically imagine the red tail from here.

“You know him.” Karasuma starts, lifting his eyes up to bore his eyes into the professor, trying to pick apart the intentions.

“Not well.” Tatsume laments, lifting up his cup to take a sip. “I’ve only seen glimpses of him on the shore. He’s pretty elusive, appearing and disappearing at whim.” He reaches a hand out, turns the page of the journal back a few before Karasuma could flinch away. “I’ve talked to him once, upon first meeting, but he wouldn’t even give me a name.”

 _His name’s Takayama._ Karasuma thinks, swallowing the stone in his throat as he looks down at the page. The drawing was a few years old,Takayama’s face resembling closer to a 14 year old, rather than the 17 year old he was today.

“He’s quite helpful,” Tatsume continues. “He saves a lot of the animals around here.”

“You watch him.” Karasuma all but glares, flips a few more pages to look at the man’s research.

“From afar! I wouldn’t _harm_ him.” The man defends with vigor, as he pulls out another book. “He’s the only one I’ve ever known, and he’s inspired me to do something, spend my life researching into a topic I hadn’t even _considered_.” He opens the book up, full of words and diagrams and charts, labels and titles all pointing to hypotheses, taxonomic time frames, bold statements of change.

“You’ve gotten close enough to draw him in detail.” Tatsume says. “Something I haven’t been able to accomplish in 3 years. If anyone should be able to read on what I have, it should be you.”

Karasuma stares at the book in his hands, eyes widening at the sudden push of responsibility.

“You don’t even have to tell me your findings.” Tatsume rushes, desperate in wanting to share, “You could look at these and never visit me again. But you’re someone he seems to trust, and you’re curious to know, aren’t you? Isn’t that why you bought the journal?”

Karasuma takes a moment, pauses as if he’s trying to breathe again, before he lets out a puff of air. “It was.” He quietly hands the book back to Kamoda, grabs the one in Tatsume’s hands. Tatsume smiles in relief.

“You can stay as long as you’d like, read the books as well as any others in my collection.” He stands, smooths out the wrinkles of his fabric. “I’m also here to ask questions too,” He pauses, “Or to listen to what you’ve learned, if you’d want to.”

He excuses himself then, leaving the two kids alone, surrounded by books upon books, theories, papers, and all.

“Well, that worked out.” Kamoda says, breaking the silence in the room.

Karasuma wheezes out the air he’d been holding. “It really did.” He stands and wanders over to the shelf Tatsume was at earlier, picks up a book and reads the title. “I guess I know what we’re doing for a bit.”

Kamoda pouts from his spot at the table. “Can’t I just look at the sketches? Or leave you alone?”

“Don’t be a baby, you like learning about fish just as much as me.” Karasuma rolls his eyes, tossing over a few light books centered around fish behaviorisms. He keeps walking, pulling up books from the shelves that he finds of interest. Diversity of fish, studies on dolphins and whales, and a few mythological novels found in the cracks between research papers.

He lugs them all to the table, stacking them on the floor next to. Soon, it looks like a mini city surrounded the two teens.

“Let’s get started.”

The next few hours move in a blur, the two slowly going through their stacks, moving around the room and reading over and over. They both started at the table, engrossed, but as they grew more fidgety they spread out. Kamoda pacing around the room as he chugged through a long study of how fish see in the dark, while Karasuma laid spread out on the floor, occasionally dropping the book he was holding right onto his head, cursing as the thick book hit his forehead with a hefty _thunk_ , which caused the taller one to cackle out in laughter. Tatsume occasionally stopped by, leaned over shoulders and pointed out different observations, reactions, or facts, before disappearing once again to go prepare for next day’s lessons. Karasuma and Kamoda occasionally took breaks, mainly discussing what they read, arguing if any two books clashed in facts, which caused many books to be shoved in each other’s faces, as well as maybe a few chokeholds before the other admitted he was right. The journal at Karasuma’s feet had quite a few pages dedicated to what they had learned, as well as questions added to the section from the night before. As the sun set, and clouds rumbled into the sky, Kamoda was dozing out the window while Karasuma finished up the last of his notes.

“Hey, shouldn’t you get going?” Kamoda asked, causing Karasuma to shut the book with realization.

“Shit!” He stands up, shuffles around the room in an attempt to clean up their mess. “You’re right! Oh fuck, where’s the book on the Bull trout-”

“Thank you for having us.” Karasuma says, many minutes later, hair messed up from the rush of moving around. “It was all really, really insightful.”

“It was my pleasure.” Tatsume blinks, standing in his kitchen at the sudden sight of the two out of the living room.

“We have to leave, now. But we did our best to tidy up the room and leave it the exact way we found it.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to-but, thank you.” Tatsume nods, walking past them to say goodbye at the door. “You two are welcome to come back if you have any further questions.”

The two nod, thank him for the offer as they pool outside into the cold night air, wave in goodbye as they head down the road. It was plenty night-like out, with dark clouds hanging over them, the rising crescent moon already hidden.

“Could you cover for me?” Karasuma asks, shifting his satchel around in impatience. “I don’t really have the time to go back to the ship. I should be back in a couple hours.”

Kamoda waves him off, smiling. “I know, I know.” He gives his best friend a playful shove. “Now go! You’re already late as it is!”

Karasuma laughs, runs his hand through his hair with a smile, before taking a sharp right off the village path and plunging into the forest. Crickets chime into the air as he makes his way along the path, past moths and frogs and random sprouts of foliage, following down the hill and almost tripping over some moss-ridden logs as he scales on down, heading closer and closer to the shoreline. The forest begins to split in two up ahead, and he hears the rush of a river, the waters thumping to the same timing as his heart. He grins, slides down another small hill, before jogging up to the cave area. Inside it looks the exact same as yesterday, and he makes his way back to the boulder.

He sits, waits. Waits a bit longer, pulls off his satchel and opens up his book, scribbles a few things down.

“Hello?” He asks, to the seemingly empty cave. He places the book down, looks around as he thinks of what to do.

Drips of water fall from the cave ceiling and drop to the water below. The boy scoots back a bit, until his back hits the curve of the rock wall, pulling his knees to his chest, listening to the sounds. Outside, he hears the slight sound of thunder, wind swirls into the cave and has the walls groan under it.

“Maybe I came too early...or did I come too late?” Karasuma asks, aloud, before yawning. He rests his chin on his curled up knees, rests his eyes for a moment as he thinks of what to do. _How long should I wait?_

He loses track of time, sitting there, until a loud clap of thunder jolts him awake, causing him to thunk his head against the wall.

“Ouch!” He rubs the spot, blinking his eyes and rubbing them with his free hand. He can hear the rain beat heavily.

“You’re awake.” A voice says, so suddenly that Karasuma ends up hitting his head a second time in the span of a minute.

“How long have you been here?” Karasuma winces, annoyed that he keeps getting hurt.

“Not long…” Takayama sits to the side, next to Karasuma on the boulder. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” The other murmurs.

Takayama smiles, soft enough that Karasuma feels warm despite the cold cave. “It’s okay, it was my fault I was running late.”

“What time is it?” Karasuma looks around, now finally starting to wake up. “I’ve probably been here too long.”

Light suddenly sparks outside, followed by a large clap of thunder, the sound of rain continuing to pour down. Observing the basin of water at his feet, it’s probably slightly flooding.

“Shit. It wouldn’t be a good idea for me to leave right now.” Karasuma sighs, slumping back. Sneaking onto a ship mid-storm was definitely _not_ his favorite thing to do. “I guess I’m stuck here for a bit.”

“A shame.” Takayama says, with a small smirk that causes Karasuma’s ears to burn.

He coughs instead, goes to reach for his book when he notices it’s gone. He looks over, puzzled, before noticing Takayama is holding it.

“You-”

“Oh, sorry.” The merman hands it back, looking off to the side. “I got a little bored waiting.”

“You can read?” Karasuma blurts out, immediately kicking himself mentally for the bluntness of it.

“A little bit...written Japanese is a bit hard to learn.”

“Yeah...I get that…” He yawns again, stretches his stiff arms before opening back up his journal. “Well, since we have time... Are you still up for questions?”

Takayama shrugs in response, hefts his tail up so he’s fully above water. “I don’t mind.”

Karasuma finds himself smiling, before he points a finger at how the merman is sitting. “So, are you able to be on land?”

“For a bit. I’d get dehydrated if I stayed away from water too long. I think I can be out for 2 hours? I usually push it by sun tanning.” He adds with a smile. “There’s a nice rocky part of the beach where no one goes, so I like napping there a lot.”

“What? That’s really dangerous! What if someone _saw_ you?” _Or, well, people already have._

“It’s fine, it’s not like they can catch me off guard.”

“But you’d be asleep-?”

Takayama blinks. “Half asleep. I don’t sleep all at once. If I did, I’d drown.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Karasuma drawls, making a note in his book before his eyes widen. “Wait- you can’t breathe underwater?!”

“No.” The merman hums. “I don’t have gills.”

The other studies him, glaring as his eyes move across his face and down to his neck and chest, surprised he hadn’t noticed that already.

“Well, huh.” Karasuma says, a little dumbfounded, causing Takayama to snort. “So how long can you guys be underwater?

Takayama taps his chin. “That varies per person, but my record is 30 minutes.”

“Woah.” Karasuma breathes, then jotts a few notes on a new page. “And how about diet?”

Takayama thinks for a moment, slinks back into the pool and underwater for a few moments. Karasuma scoots forward as an attempt to watch, legs dangling into the water. He resurfaces soon, fish in hand. “Usually just fish.”

He wrinkles his nose. “You eat it raw?”

The other cocks his head to the side, holding onto the large, wriggling fish in his grasp. "There's no need to cook it."

"I guess with your environment your stomach wouldn't need it..." Karasuma taps the pencil against the paper. "So what method do you use to eat it?"

The fish is lifted into the air, closer to Takayama’s mouth, but he doesn’t look down. "Well...my friend Irene likes to bite the head off first, but I'm more of a fan of other methods..."

He bares his teeth, making Karasuma uncomfortably aware of the sheer number of pointy fangs on the boy, and then sinks them into the side of the panicked fish, and begins to suck in. Karasuma grimaces as a drip of blood falls from Takayama's mouth and hits the water. After a few seconds, he unhooks from the fish, showing a large circular chunk missing.

Karasuma peers at it, holding onto his journal. "Woah...It's like you’re part lamprey..." He watches Takayama lick away the blood around his mouth, blushing only a little bit, thank you.

"I guess so,” Takayama says,” It's a good way to get a lot of blood quickly, and it doesn't kill the fish yet..."

Not knowing how to reply, Karasuma focuses on scribbling a few notes into his book. The only sound being the occasional splash from other fish in the cave, the occasional rumble of thunder from outside. Karasuma’s stomach suddenly grumbles, and Takayama, blinking, lifts the fish in offering.  The fish wriggles a little, its gaping mouth opening and closing in panic.

“Ummmm.” Karasuma says. "I think gonna cook that first...Hold on.” He quickly places his book down, runs into the rain and into the forest, hoping the the trees up above kept some leaves dry. He returns with a few leaves and sticks.

"The storm might have screwed me over, but it's worth a shot." He places them down, before rummaging in his satchel a moment.

"Gotcha!" He says, taking out his flint and steel.

He squats, works them together until a few sparks fly onto a dry leaf. Takayama's ears twitch as he watches in awe. Karasuma sticks out his tongue in concentration, and after a few more goes, the leaf catches on fire.

Takayama leans forward, looking in curiosity. "You conjured it out of nowhere."

Karasuma huffs. "Nothing more than causing friction with some tools, I guess." He tosses a couple more leaves into the circle he's made, prods it with a stick to keep the fire up. He grabs a two sticks, hands it to his friend.

"Here, could you kill it and place some of the fish on each of these sticks for me? I’m making some for you too."

After he does, Karasuma tells him to place his stick over the fire. "We're gonna cook them," Karasuma instructs, "It might take a while, but it's better to do it slow than to accidentally burn them."

Takayama nods, shifts his body so he's sitting on the rock better, closer to the other. He holds the stick over the flame. "Like this?"

Karasuma gently grabs Takayama's arms, shifts his stick slightly up at an angle. His hands linger a second too long before they return to the stick he placed on the ground.

“There,” he breathes, trying to ignore the way his heart beat faster at the contact.

They sit for a while, the aroma of the fish cooking beginning to waft around the cave. Karasuma is reminded of being home, cooking around the fire late at night with his mom and dad. A sense of warmth and comfort washes over him in the warming cave.

“It smells nice.” Takayama says. “How much longer until it’s good?”

“Just a bit longer,” Karasuma replies, soft smile on his lips.

Another few minutes pass, Karasuma gently eases the fish off of the fire, blowing away some of the steam. Takayama mimics him.

“It needs to cool a bit-” Karasuma starts, but Takayama is already taking a bite. He jerks back, holding the stick away from him. Karasuma can’t help the small giggle that escapes him.  
“Ow.”

“I told you to wait, didn’t I?”

Takayama cups some nearby water into his hand, drinks it to cool his burning tongue. The other blows on his fish again, before taking a small bite. “Mmmm” He hums, taking another. He hadn’t eaten all day, and the hot fish was a nice contrast against his cold nose and fingers.

Takayama hesitatingly takes another bite, after blowing on it this time. He takes a couple more immediately after.

“This is very different,” He says over a mouth full of food, “But in a good way.”

Karasuma nods. “I like eating my fish this way better.”

Takayama hums, takes another bite. “I might just agree.”

They continue eating, mainly focusing on the fish instead of conversation, but a few words, some questions and answers, still split past. When it’s all said and done, Karasuma keeps the fire going, poking it occasionally with his stick, as Takayama swims around in the water.

“You’re staring.” Karasuma states, after another minute of feeling Takayama’s eyes on him. He blames the heat of the fire for the way his face burns.

“I don’t see humans a lot.” Is Takayama’s reply, voice filled as if he had more to say.

The other huffs, pokes the fire again. “You know, I’ve asked you all sorts of questions already, it would only be fair if you’d be allowed to ask some back.”

“I don’t have any.”

“Really? None?” Karasuma cocks his head to the side, looking at the other. “There’s nothing you want to know on life in the inlands?”

“I’d rather know for myself.”

“What does _that_ mean?” He starts, but Takayama had disappeared beneath the safety of the cave pool, leaving him alone. “Oh.”

Despite himself, Karasuma finds himself yawning. “Shit.” He stands up, walks over the entrance of the cave and looks out. Still way too stormy out. The rain hits the entrance of the cave, causing his hair and the front of his striped shirt to be drenched. Lightning strikes not too far off, and thunder makes itself known. It had to be midnight, at _least_.

Sighing, Karasuma walks back to where he was, lays a bit far away from the flames. _I’ve slept in worst places, I suppose. I hope Barbara isn't_ too _mad…_

There’s the sound of water being disturbed. Karasuma doesn’t even bother to turn his head.

“Are you resting?” Takayama asks.

“Well, the storm doesn’t really seem to be stopping anytime soon…”

“Oh.” The merman swims closer to the edge, places his arms on the sides and rests his head there.

“You don’t have to, um, stay, if you don’t want to.” Karasuma mumbles. “I’m sure your parents need you back, or something.”

“It’s fine.” He goes. “My grandfather is used to me being out a lot.”

“Oh…”

“I have a question.” Takayama states a few minutes later.

“Hmm?”

“Why did you decide to leave the land?”

Karasuma tilts his head to look at the merman. “Are you asking me why I became a sailor?”

“Yes.”

Karasuma ponders it for a minute. A long time ago, if he was asked the same question, he would’ve answered something along the lines of his father. Now, though…

“I like the freedom.”

Takayama nods, pleased with the answer. “Good.”

They keep up the conversation, lazily asking questions back and forth, as the storm continues to roar from the outside. In the safety of the cave, neither seem to even notice the loud claps of thunder, or the occasional light that peeked in. Eventually, their words die off, replaced with the sound of quiet snorings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so tired I wrote the majority of this in one sitting (so apologies for mistakes)
> 
> also, anyone want references? here's references:  
> https://bird-pun.tumblr.com/post/183486090083/some-design-references-for-my-mermaid-au


	4. Meantime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's a shorter chapter this time! I'm trying to just get to the chapter I've already written and really love whoops (also I have no clue how to title chapters)

Karasuma finds himself sitting in his old home. Water beats against the shingles on the roof, the cold air causing Karasuma to wrap the blanket around his shoulders tighter. A clap of thunder sounds, followed by strikes of lightning, and Karasuma drifts forward, feet light as air, to the patio door. Nearby, he hears his mother cutting up ingredients for dinner.  He quietly reaches his hand through the opening, watches as the droplets drop onto his skin and roll off. The sounds of rain fill up around him.

He glances down, expecting to see the yard he grew up in, but it is just a pool of water, leaving his ankles covered. Karasuma blinks, smiles, as the water lazily moves around, before he steps forward, expecting to find ground, but ends up being sucked in.

Karasuma gasps, suddenly very, very cold, and kicks his feet upward, resurfacing in the dark cave he had fallen asleep in. 

He clumsily grapples onto the edge, looks around, but there’s no sight of Takayama. A few fish swim around him, and outside the daylight streams in, washing the sides in a warm yellow. Climbing up, Karasuma shakes his head and wrings out his shirt, water splashing to his feet. 

...Shit, he’s totally missed breakfast. He needs to get back to the boat.

So he grabs his satchel, checks for everything, before he carefully side steps through the opening and out into the river. He picks up a stray stone and chucks it downstream, watches it jump and skip before sinking down. Yawning, he picks up another, but before he throws it he looks the rock over, rolls it around his palms and observes the many knicks and patterns, thinking. He sighs, feeling the weight of his eye bags wear him down.

His hand goes slack and he lets the rock drop to the ground, then continues walking forward, eventually getting to the beach side. A gust of wind passes through, whips Karasuma’s hair around and relieves him of some of the heat.

He’s able to get onto the ship without much trouble, slips down the wooden docks with a familiar swiftness and climbs into his bed, feeling comfort in the stiff material, and closes his eyes, listens to the other crew mates talking and laughing.

Only to open them up again because of Kamoda aggressively shaking his shoulder.

“What.” Karasuma grumbles, swatting the hand away.

“Don’t ‘what’ me! Where were you?”

“I couldn’t get onto the ship in the storm…” Karasuma pouts, sitting up. 

Kamoda squints, not believing it. “The storm wasn’t  _ that _ bad. Since when have you been afraid of some water?! You’re lucky I was able to cover for you.”

“Did Barbara notice?”

“I don’t think so-“

Loud steps stomp downstairs, the click of the metal soles of boots practically echoing throughout the quieting room. Both boys pale.

Barbara, in her captain’s hat and cloak, glares in their direction. “Karasuma.”

“It was nice knowing you Mikisada.” 

He sniffles. “It’s been an honor, Eishi.”

Barbara pinches the bridge of her nose, inhales before adjusting her falling cap.

“You two are so dramatic, I’m not here to yell at you.”

“...You’re not?”

“No. I’m literally here to talk to you about your  _ jobs _ . We’ve got a shift of schedules, and we’re leaving for port Heron sooner than expected since we have to take a longer route. However, not all our cargo is here, so I need you guys to go get it from the next town down the beach. ” She waves her hand. “It should be close, and it’s not that much, so I expect you to be back well before we leave the morning after tomorrow.”

Kamoda stands up fully. “Got it, Captain!”

With a nod of her head, Barbara curtly turns around and stride back up to the main deck.

“This is definitely a punishment.” Kamoda groans, plopping next to Karasuma.

“Oh, no doubt. I’m surprised she’s going this easy on us. She’ll probably make us scrub the deck when we get back.” He pats his best friend on the back, and then uses him as leverage as he stands up, yawns, grabs his satchel and makes his way down the floorboards. “C’mon, maybe if we hurry we can convince the main cook to hand us some food for the trip.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have been out so late, and you wouldn’t have missed dinner  _ and _ breakfast.” Kamoda rolls his eyes, catching up to Karasuma and roughly rustling his hair. “Did you even eat?” 

“Hey, I had dinner!” The short one protests, shoving Kamoda’s hand away and entering the kitchen. Which, after much debate, the two teens were able to get away with a small sack of food for their trip.

They hop off the boat and to the docks, and begin the long trek down to the next town.

“Since the town is right on the beach, we should be able to follow the shore just fine.” Karasuma relents as he sticks his nose in the map. “It’s a trading town, but not openly available to trade with foreigners.”

Kamoda tugs on the black vest he’s wearing. “Should we have changed our clothes?” 

“It’s a little to late for that.” he waves his hand in dismissal.

They keep walking, lazily strolling across the sand. Karasuma kicks his feet, and a bit of sand sprays in the air. 

“So,” Kamoda starts, turning his head to look down at the other with a grin, “how was your date?”

Karasuma’s brain stem snaps.

“What!?” He practically yelps, face turning red.

His tall friend pitches an eyebrow up. “Oh come  _ on  _ Eishi, you never act so giddy unless it’s around someone you’ve got a crush on.”

“I-!” Karasuma presses the palms of his hands against his cheeks in an attempt to cool them. “I do not! It’s not like that!” He crinkles his nose and looks off to the side. “I doubt we’re even friends at this point. We’re just hanging out!”

“Uh-Huh. And I’m sure you haven’t already had to erase hearts you drew around his name~”

“Shi-Shut up.” Karasuma grumbles, “How would you even know that…”

Kamoda laughs good naturedly. “That’s what happens when your best friends with someone since kidhood!” He winks and raises his pointer finger up. “You get best friend intuition.”

Karasuma groans, fighting back a smile. “Whatever. Don’t you at least want to hear what happened on my definitely-not-a date?”

“I’m all ears!” Kamoda says. “We’ve got a while until we reach the town, yeah?”

Karasuma hums, opens up his bag and rummages through until he spots his notebook. He flips it open.

“...Oh.”

“‘Oh?’”

Karasuma feels his ears burn. “I think I forgot to write anything down...or ask any of the questions we came up with.”

Kamoda lets out a snort, followed by a louder bark of laughter. Karasuma can’t help but to start snickering as well, and the two of them stop walking as they cackle alongside the beach. 

“I’m- _ wheeze _ -such a disaster.”

“You were too busy looking into his dreamy eyes, huh?”

Karasuma playfully shoves the other. “Oh come on, like you're any better with crushes.”

Kamoda exaggeratingly gasps. “What? I’ll have you know I’m smooth.”

“Yeah, smooth like the roaring tides at sea. I swear, Port Heron should be renamed Port ‘Third Wheel.’ Don’t tell me you forgot about the time you told Rei-“

“Nooo don’t remind me of that!” Kamoda whines, shaking his best friend’s shoulders. “That was  _ embarrassing _ .”

“I was embarrassed  _ for _ you. When are you going to just ask him out already?”

Kamoda doesn’t respond, just gently pushes Karasuma forward so they can keep walking. The water beside them churns slowly, with only the occasional spray of water from fish, and a couple boats pass by.

“Really though,” Kamoda says, after a while, “I’m glad to see you this excited about something. I know it’s been a drag waiting these past couple years.”

“Yeah.” Karasuma breathes, fiddling with the strap of his bag. “I didn’t really expect to get  into learning about this. I’m having fun.”

The other taps his chin. “But aren’t we leaving soon?”

“...Yeah?”

“We’ll, we’re heading off to the next port, but what about then? You can’t really talk to him forever, we have responsibilities.”

Karasuma stares up at his friend. “Since when were you so logical?”

“I’ve always been logical!” Kamoda pouts, hunching his back and looking like a kid again. “You just usually hog the intellect in this friendship.”

“Okay, fair.” Karasuma says, scooping down to pick up a stray seashell. “I guess I hadn’t really thought about it. But...you’re right. Tomorrow night is probably the last I’ll see of him for a long while.”

“Ugh, I hate saying goodbye.” Kamoda sighs, looking downtrodden at the sand.

“Yeah,” Karasuma runs his finger over the ridges of the red and white seashell. “Me too.”

After a couple more hours of walking, they finally reach their destination. A couple dozen people mill about, others sitting down at their shops. Karasuma peers over to some of the tables, spotting baked goods being organized by an elderly woman. Next to her, her grandson emerges from inside the shop with another tray of neatly wrapped items. Karasuma’s stomach grumbles, but he forces himself to continue walking forward, not looking forward to scarfing down the mushy apple they got from the kitchen staff.

A couple of the townsfolk give them odd looks, and Karasuma almost wishes that they had borrowed appropriate clothes to fit in. He never did like the attention. He shifts closer to Kamoda, and continues to look for the right merchant. However, on this road, Karasuma can’t tell who he’s supposed to look for. No one’s waving them down either. 

Kamoda turns to one of the nearby workers. “Hi! Could you help us?” He pulls a note from his vest pocket. “We’re looking for someone named...Marilyn?”

The person jumps, before nodding and pointing to a booth a bit down on the left. “She’s over there.”

“Thank you!” Kamoda smiles, turning back to Karasuma with a shine in his eye as they stroll forward.

When they reach the area, they see a woman fiddling around and laying out fabrics.

“Um, hello.” Karasuma voices, glancing down at the smooth patterns for sale. He takes the note from Kamoda. “We’re here for a pickup for Captain Novak.”

The woman stares for a second, before visually perking up. “Oh! You’re a bit early, but yes, I have everything ready.” She smiles, tucks a strand of her black hair behind her ear, before gesturing the two to follow her inside. Inside the home, clothes, fabric patterns, and hats are all strewn about. “Don’t mind the mess.” She sighs. “I’m not that organized as of recent.”

She walks over to a certain set of boxes, opens it up and peers inside before closing it. She turns, smiles. “Everything seems to be in order! Be sure to thank your boss again for her patience, I know these last few boxes were annoying to wait for.” She pats the four large boxes stacked in a column. 

“Thank you.” Karasuma replies. As he heaves up a box, he notices a painting that was previously hidden behind. An image of a beach overlooking the port town. “This is pretty.”

“Thank you!” Marilyn beams. “I’m quite the painter in my downtime. The town next to us is really nice, and I grew up there, so it’s a nice source of inspiration.”

Karasuma looks a bit closer at the painting, and notices in the corner, a tiny red tail is flipped into view. The sight of it makes him grow suddenly very, very tired.

The two teens shuffle out of the building, Kamoda waving the merchant goodbye, and they start their trek home. 

Reds and oranges wash over the sand as they slowly heft their way back, illuminating the scenery in a way only artists could dream to capture, but Karasuma can’t focus.

The roaring of the waves makes Karasuma think of the tiny little cave in a small port town, and of a boy swimming in circles, tail occasionally twitching and spraying water into the air and wetting Karasuma’s hair. Laughter echoes around the cave like chimes of a bell, and Karasuma’s heart skips a beat.

He shakes his head vigorously, as if to get rid of the drops of water from back then.

“You okay?” Kamoda asks.

“Yeah,” Is all he can reply. “I’m fine.” The book in his bag seems to weigh heavier than the fabric in his hands.

**Author's Note:**

> this au has consumed my life. Will i continue this? [looks at the 5k words already written for different chapters] yes.


End file.
